PoleVaultPower.com

So. In desperate need of assistance/ guidance. I am a high school senior. I am 5'11" weighing 152 pounds. I started pole vaulting last year so this is my second season. We have no coach (for pole vaulting, anyways) so me and my friend have self-taught ourselves how to pole vault through videos, other team's coaches at meets, etc. Last year we used a 145 lbs skypole 13'. This year I have managed to try other team's poles (because our school sucks and didnt buy us a new pole until recently... more on that later). I used a pacer III 14' 160 lbs pole at city and was able to get 12'6" on my first try (with our poles i could only get 12' and only rarely). Later in a normal meet i used a 14'160 lbs UCS spirit and flew over 12'6" easy and scraped away a 13'. Anyways, we ended up getting a new pole: 14'6" 160 lbs skypole (flex 19.6).

Here is my problem: I CANNOT even use this pole. I am pretty damn fast and my steps feel fine (7 steps on left). I cannot make it to the pit. I am sort of reckless in that I keep trying even though i fall back after not reaching the vertical (please dont yell about safety, thats not what Im here for). I can barely bend this pole and it is really pissing me off. What I am asking for is why this pole is so much more difficult for me to use than the other 2 and what kind of pole should i get (if I decide to buy my own pole). Thanks in advance for any feedback/help. I'll try to get a video of me soon.

Also, my grip on the first 2 poles i think was around 13'7". My grip on this new pole is probably 14'2".

Paraphrasing ...

Panarchus wrote:

I''m 5'11" weighing 152 pounds.
Last year we used a 145 lbs skypole 13'. PR: 12'.
This year I used a pacer III 14' 160 lbs pole at city PR: 12'6" on my first try. Grip: 13'7".
Later in a normal meet I used a 14' 160 lbs UCS spirit and flew over 12'6" easy and scraped away a 13'. Grip: 13'7".
We ended up getting a new pole: 14'6" 160 lbs skypole (flex 19.6). Grip: 14'2"

Here is my problem: I CANNOT even use this pole. ... I cannot make it to the pit. ... I can barely bend this pole
Why? And what kind of pole should i get?

This is the 3rd chart I've drawn tonight. The other two are here ...
http://polevaultpower.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=17720
http://polevaultpower.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=17719

Here's your poles ...

A 14-6 155 might have been a better choice, but it's too late for that now, unless you can borrow one.

I think the advice to you is probably similar to the advice to Yankee and PV23 ...

You should grip at 13-7 on the 14-6 160 until you're landing well into the pit. Until you blow thru to the far side of the PLZ, keep your 13-7 grip (no higher). You may not bend it as much, but you'll bend it enough to clear some bars.

Over-gripping is suicide, and since you asked me not to worry about your safety I won't. I mean suicide in the sense that you won't clear any bars. To clear the bar, you need to land in the pit.

Don't expect to bend this pole as much as the 14-0 160. Just jump exactly the same on the new pole as on the old one, even tho it won't bend as much. With some patience ... and with the confidence of KNOWING that you have low enough of a grip to land well into the pit ... you will eventually start bending it ... just as much as the old one. Don't expect this to happen overnight.

Please also read the advice given to Yankee and PV23.

Kirk

I had a similar problem in high school. I was going from 5 stepping on a 13'6 160 holding down a bit, to trying to cap a 14' 175 from a 7 step. I had no where near the pole vault knowledge that I have now, so the fact that those are 5 poles apart was totally lost on me. I basically just kept trying to run harder and harder, and eventually I came down in the box, and had such a bruise/charlie horse/ swelling or whatever that I was limping around for 3 days or so over my spring break. Eventually I accepted help from someone who let me use a 13'6 175. In a matter of 3 or 4 jumps I was blowing through that pole, and in the next meet I switched to the 14' 175 after blowing through the 13'6 and PR'd by a foot (11'6 to 12'6 if you're interested, I was no stud). The point is that the difference between the 13'6 160 and the 14' 175 was to great no matter how determined I was, and even though the 14' 175 was the ideal pole for me, and that by letting my body adjust incrementally rather than making a huge jump (15lbs and at least a foot in grip) I was able to use the pole. So I would suggest trying to find something in between to ease the transition a bit, even if you blow through it, it definately helps. Oh, and don't fall in the box, it hurts

Thanks for the feedback. So the new pole i got is 2 poles ahead of the ones I was using? i guess that makes sense then. Is there any differences between the brands of poles i should be wary about (I am interested in buying one for myself)?

At this point, no, there is nothing you should worry about as far as brands go. I would worry more about prices/shipping.